Underground Lovers @ TheAnnandale Hotel, Sydney(04/12/09)

Mon 7th Dec, 2009 in Gig Reviews

CHECK OUT ALL THE PHOTOS FROM THE SHOW HERE.

It’s great to see some of the best of the – œ90s Australian groups like Tumbleweed and Underground Lovers re-forming for shows at the moment. For me, arriving in Australia and hearing Cold Feeling in – œ98 was a revelatory moment. Though I didn’t go back and fully discover their back catalogue, they instantly became one of those bands that you know has something special.

First up were The Devoted Few, led by Mr Ben Fletcher. The – œFew have developed into a strong and exceptionally tight unit, especially notable with the amount of movement they generate on stage. The songs are unashamedly big and bold; there’s no indie fringe dwelling and shuffling of feet with this band.

Songs like Frosty Furnaces were uplifting in an Arcade Fire meets Postal Service way, while others skillfully layered guitars and keys around Fletcher’s compositions and voice. The band creates richly pop-tastic songs and gives them an indie sheen that culminated in the monstrous electro anthem Don’t Listen To Us, which almost sounded too big for the Annandale.

Underground Lovers received a heroes’ welcome as they took the stage and the grins on their faces (that continued right through the evening) showed they were enjoying revisiting their songs as much as anyone in the room.

What struck me early in the set was how dark, swirling and psychedelic their sound is. The projected images and low lighting enhanced that impression, but it was the strong and driving music that ultimately filled the room with their surging sound. The drums were always pushing the songs along with a pulsing intensity while guitarist Glenn Bennie was creating noise and chunks of melody in the corner beneath his baseball cap.

Eastside Stories sounded like Happy Mondays colliding with The Wedding Present, such was the glorious meeting of Vincent Giarrusso’s chanted vocals over the slashing guitar of Bennie. Giarrusso in particular seemed to be having a ball, bouncing and shuffling around the stage and playing air drums in his own little world.

At times, there was a certain harshness to their sound that recalled – œ80s New Zealand music on the Flying Nun label. The pop aspect is delivered with a dark undercurrent and a rhythmically driving feel. Bands like Snapper and Bailter Space came to mind on songs like Promenade and elsewhere there were nods to the glistening discordance of Sonic Youth.

The contrasting vocals of Giarrusso and Phillippa Nihill made for a nicely varied set. Nihill’s softly drifting style brought a shoegaze feel to some tracks like I Was Right as the band chugged along around her.

Las Vegas was a highlight and the crowd joined in to sing the rousing lines – “Holy is the water and the water runs free, water in the desert and the desert grew trees, the desert lit up with neon signs, c’mon everybody, we’ll have us a good time”. That one moment highlighted the impact the band has had on their fans.

Time will tell if the band continues to play and possibly record together, but at The Annandale they showed that they are a band influenced by the past and who moved with the times. They incorporated post punk, shoegaze, Madchester, jangle pop and psych sounds into their own unique thing. It didn’t sound dated. In fact, it felt like an invigorating blast of music in 2009; even if they didn’t play Cold Feeling.